Foster Carer Leave from Work: Your Entitlements in Australia

One of the practical questions prospective foster carers ask early in the process is whether you have to give up work — or at least significant time from work — to foster. The short answer is no, but it depends on the type of care you're providing and how willing your employer is to work with you.

Here's what the law provides and what it doesn't.

No Automatic Paid Leave for Foster Carers in Australia

Unlike adoptive parents or birth parents, foster carers do not have a statutory entitlement to paid parental leave at the federal level under the Parental Leave Pay scheme. The Australian Government's Parental Leave Pay is specifically for parents caring for a newborn or recently adopted child — foster placement does not meet the definition of adoption for these purposes.

This is one of the more significant gaps in the system, and it's one that carer advocacy bodies like the Foster and Kinship Carers Association Tasmania (FKAT) have consistently raised. As of 2026, no federal reform has changed this position.

What foster carers do have access to:

Personal/carer's leave: Under the Fair Work Act 2009, all full-time employees accrue 10 days of personal/carer's leave per year. Part-time employees accrue on a pro-rata basis. You can use this leave to care for a child in your care who is ill or injured, or to attend medical appointments. It cannot be used simply to settle in a new placement.

Annual leave and long service leave: You can use these for any purpose, including taking time off when a new placement begins.

Unpaid leave: You may be able to negotiate unpaid leave with your employer around the initial period of a new placement. This is entirely at the employer's discretion unless a specific award or enterprise agreement provides otherwise.

Flexible working requests: Under the Fair Work Act, employees who have been with an employer for at least 12 months and have caring responsibilities can request flexible working arrangements — changed hours, changed location, changed patterns of work. The employer must respond in writing within 21 days and can only refuse on reasonable business grounds.

State-Level Variations

Some state and territory governments, and some large public sector employers, have introduced foster carer-specific leave provisions that go beyond the federal minimum. Tasmania's public sector enterprise agreements have historically included provisions for carers, but these vary by sector and bargaining instrument.

If you work for DECYP, the Tasmanian Health Service, or another state government employer, check your current enterprise agreement for foster care or kinship carer provisions. Some agreements allow a fixed number of days of paid leave at the commencement of a placement.

For private sector employees, the conversation with your employer is entirely individual. Some workplaces are generous — particularly if they have formal carer policies or diversity and inclusion commitments. Others are not. Framing the request around flexible working arrangements (which have a legal basis) is usually more effective than asking for special discretionary leave.

What Time Is Actually Required

This is the key practical question. What does fostering actually demand from your work schedule?

During the approval process: Training through the "Shared Lives" program runs across several sessions. In Tasmania, this is typically delivered on weekends or evenings to accommodate working carers. The "Step by Step" assessment involves home visits, usually conducted by the assessor at times that suit your schedule — often evenings or weekend mornings. The application process is demanding but does not usually require taking significant time off work.

During a new placement: The first few weeks with a new child in the house are genuinely intensive. If you're working full-time, you'll need a childcare plan for school-aged children (school handles a significant portion of the day, but school pickup, after-school hours, and sick days all require coverage). For pre-school-aged children, full-time childcare needs to be organised before placement is confirmed.

Emergency placements: These, by definition, happen without notice. If you're registered for emergency care and a child is placed with you on a Tuesday afternoon, you need a plan for Wednesday morning. This is a real tension that working carers navigate in different ways — some have flexible employers, some have family support networks, some limit their availability to school-aged children only.

Ongoing appointments: DECYP supervision, agency support meetings, court appearances (rare for carers, but they happen), medical appointments, school meetings — these accumulate. Most can be handled with a few hours of flexible time each month, but they are not zero.

Having the Conversation with Your Employer

If you're considering fostering and are employed, it's worth raising it with your manager or HR before you're approved. Not because you need permission, but because:

• It allows you to negotiate flexible arrangements before you need them urgently
• It gives you a realistic sense of how supportive the workplace will be
• It may reveal provisions in your employment contract or enterprise agreement that you weren't aware of

Frame it in terms of impact: "I'm in the process of becoming a foster carer. I don't anticipate this affecting my work significantly on an ongoing basis. When a new placement starts, I may need some flexibility in the first week or two. Can we talk about what that might look like?"

Most reasonable employers respond well to this kind of proactive conversation.

Single Carers and Employment

Single people are absolutely eligible to foster in Tasmania. DECYP and NGO agencies actively recruit single carers. The employment question is more acute for single carers because there's no second adult to cover unexpected time requirements. If you're fostering solo and working full-time, the age and type of child you foster matters significantly. Older school-aged children are more manageable alongside full-time employment. Infants and pre-school children require a different approach to childcare and coverage.

Understanding how employment fits with fostering is part of building a realistic picture of what the role entails. The Tasmania Foster Care Guide includes a practical section on household and employment planning as part of the assessment preparation process.

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